Greatest Love of All Whitney Houston

” Greatest Love of All ” is by Whitney Houston ( Whitney Elizabeth Houston ), who was an American singer, actress, producer and model. Born on August 9, 1963, in Newark, New Jersey, Whitney had such crossover appeal that her music influenced future African American women artists, many have gone on to become some of the most significant stars of today.
During her career, she released seven studio Albums and two soundtrack Albums. The Albums all of which were successful have diamond, multi-Platinum, Platinum or gold certifications.
Whitney’s self-titled debut album, released in 1985, became the best-selling debut album by a woman in history and her second album, Whitney, released two years later, became the first album by a woman to debut at Number One on the Billboard 200 Chart in the United States.
She is one of pop music’s all-time best-selling artists with sales of her records estimated to be in the region of 170–200 Million Worldwide. Whitney died on the 11th of February 2012 in her guest room at the Beverly Hilton, in Beverly Hills, California.
” Greatest Love of All ” originally titled ” The Greatest Love of All ” was written by Michael Masser ( who produced this cover version ) and Linda Creed. Michael was an American songwriter, composer and producer. His first major hit was ” Touch Me in the Morning “, recorded by Diana Ross. Michael co-wrote the song with Ron Miller. He has co-written songs for many artists including Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross, Neil Diamond, George Benson, Roberta Flack and Jennifer Lopez,
Linda Creed who was also known by her married name of Linda Epstein was an American singer-songwriter and lyricist. She helped produce some of the most popular Philadelphia soul groups of the 70s. Linda had songwriting credits for artists like The Stylistics, The Spinners, George Benson, Johnny Mathis, Phyllis Hyman and Johnny Gill. Linda died on the 10th of April 1986, at the age of 37 from breast cancer.
” Greatest Love of All ” was released on the 18th of March 1986 by record label Arista Records ( Sony Music Entertainment ) and taken from Whitney’s debut self-titled album, Whitney Houston.
The album, released on the 14th of February 1985, was a slow starter, taking fifty-five weeks to reach the top of the Billboard 200 Chart. In doing so, it became the most gradual climb to Number One since the rock band Fleetwood Mac’s second eponymous album, which took fifty-eight weeks to get to the top in 1975. With Worldwide sales of over 22 Million copies, Whitney Houston is one of the best selling Albums of the 1980s.
The song was written and recorded to be the central theme of the Muhammad Ali biopic The Greatest, released in 1977. Originally this song was recorded by George Benson in 1977, he took the song to number 2 on the Billboard R&B Chart that year, in doing so he gave Arista Records their first R&B Chart Top Ten hit single.
Lyrically the song is actually about the struggle Linda Creed had with breast cancer. The lyrics are about the challenges she faced and her feelings at the time of writing. It’s about being strong whether you meet success or failure and passing your strength onto your children who will carry it with them throughout their lives.
The accompanying music video was filmed in New York at the Harlem Apollo Theater and was directed by Peter Israelson. The video features Whitney’s mother, Cissy. Whitney plays a successful singer who is just going to perform in front of an audience. The singer reminisces about when she was a child performing in a talent competition and the encouragement she got from her mother.
” Greatest Love of All ” was a commercial success for Whitney. In the United States, the song reached Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in 1986, spending three weeks at the top. The song spent twenty weeks on the chart. It also reached number three on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart and Number One on the Adult Contemporary Chart.
In the United Kingdom, the song entered the UK Singles Chart on the 12th of April 1986 and reached a peak of number eight. It spent three weeks in the Top Ten and a total of twelve weeks on the UK chart.